Aviation: London Airports

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 23 April (WA 296-297), what is the estimated revenue generated by a transit flight into a London airport and what are the associated costs.

Earl Attlee: Tax revenue and setting are a matter for the Treasury. Paragraph 3.4 of HMRC Notice 550 specifies that transit and transfer passengers are exempt from air passenger duty (APD). APD revenue for flights consisting solely of transfer and transit passengers will therefore be zero.
	Airline revenues and costs for flights carrying transit (and or transfer) passengers are commercial matters for individual airlines.
	The CAA publishes UK Airline Financial tables that can be found at: http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx? catid=80&pagetype=88&pageid=13&sglid=13.
	This has information on UK airlines balance sheets but does not detail the costs and revenues of individual flights.

Disabled People: Blue Badges

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty's Government why, in the guidance related to Blue Badge eligibility, conditions including myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) are expressly identified as not being "in themselves a qualification for a badge"; and to what other medical conditions this guidance relates.

Earl Attlee: Eligibility for a Blue Badge is set out in the governing regulations. These are the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) 2000, as amended. Since the 1980s, the regulations allow people to apply to local authorities for a badge through two main routes: "without further assessment" and "with further assessment". Under the "with further assessment" category, a person may be eligible for a badge if they have a permanent and substantial disability which means they are unable to walk or have very considerable difficulty walking.
	It is for the relevant local authority to make decisions on whether or not a person is eligible for a badge. To help ensure consistency, the Department for Transport issues non-statutory guidance to local authorities on the factors that should be taken into account when they are making an assessment. As part of major reforms to the scheme, the department published updated guidance in June 2011 and again in February 2012.
	The guidance is intended to explain that eligibility for a badge under the "with further assessment" criteria is not condition specific. Local authorities should take into account the effect of a person's condition on their ability to walk. The guidance gives examples of conditions like myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and mental and cognitive impairments like autism and dementia. In these cases, people might be eligible for a badge if their condition means they are unable to walk or have very considerable difficulty walking. They might, however, not be eligible if their ability to walk is unaffected.
	As part of wide-ranging reforms, the Government considered extending eligibility for a Blue Badge. They announced on February 2011 that they had no plans to extend eligibility to other groups of disabled people. With over 2.5 million badges already on issue, the Government decided that it was important to ensure the Blue Badge scheme remains sustainable in the long term and that it protected the concession for those who need it the most, that is, those who are unable to walk or have considerable difficulty walking.

NHS: Salaries

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many National Health Service general practitioners earned more than the Prime Minister in the latest year for which figures are available, and what is their estimate of the number who will do so after the Health and Social Care Act 2012 comes into force.

Earl Howe: The latest available earnings data for general practitioners (GPs) are set out in GP Earnings and Expenses 2009-10 Final Report, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre on 11 November 2011. The report shows the numbers of general medical practitioners within each £10,000 earnings bracket. There are no available data on the precise number of GPs who earn more than the Prime Minister's salary.
	The publication has already been placed in the Library.
	It is not possible to make accurate projections of future trends in earnings for general practitioners, which will depend on a range of factors. The main determinant of GP earnings will continue to be the payments made under GP contractual arrangements, which will only be affected by the Health and Social Care Act in as much as the NHS Commissioning Board will, from April 2013, take over from primary care trusts the responsibility for commissioning primary care services.

NHS: Salaries

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many chairmen of National Health Service Trusts are paid more than the proposed salary of the chairman of HealthWatch England.

Earl Howe: The expected remuneration for the chair of Healthwatch England is greater than the standard remuneration for National Health Service Trust chairs. Exceptionally the Secretary of State may agree to pay an NHS Trust chair a higher rate. There are currently five chairs who are paid within the £35,000-£40,000 envisaged for the chair of Healthwatch England and none is paid higher.

Pensions

Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many British people started receiving the basic United Kingdom state pension in (1) Jamaica and (2) Trinidad and Tobago, in each of the years (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011.

Lord Freud: The information for all people receiving state pension provided in the table below includes basic state pension, graduated retirement benefit, state earnings related pension scheme, and state second pension.
	The information for the number of people starting to receive basic state pension only in the years specified is not available.
	
		
			 Country of residence Caseload 
			 Total August 2011 August 2010 August 2009 
			 Jamaica 19,000 19,750 20,380 
			 Trinidad & Tobago 1,590 1,550 1,490 
		
	
	Source: DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Survey.
	Notes:
	1. Figures are available on the Tabulation Tool page of the DWP website: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool
	2. The data relate to all state pension paid to eligible people resident in the countries named, regardless of their nationality, rather than British citizens only.

Pensions

Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average rate of basic United Kingdom state pension currently paid to British claimants normally resident in (1) Jamaica and (2) Trinidad and Tobago.

Lord Freud: The state pension data provided below include basic state pension, graduated retirement benefit, state earnings related pension scheme, and state second pension. The information for only basic state pension is not available. The average weekly rate of United Kingdom state pension currently paid to residents in Jamaica is £82.57 and £44.02 to residents in Trinidad and Tobago.
	Source: DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Survey, August 11.
	Notes:
	1. Figures are available on the Tabulation Tool page of the DWP website: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool
	2. The data relate to all state pension paid to eligible people resident in the countries named, regardless of their nationality, rather than British citizens only.

Pensions

Baroness Benjamin: To ask Her Majesty's Government why the United Kingdom state pension payable to British expatriates living in Jamaica is uprated annually, but that payable to those living in Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean countries is not.

Lord Freud: Uprating of state pension only occurs where there is a bilateral social security convention in force with another country. The United Kingdom has operated these conventions since the 1950's and 15 contain reciprocal arrangements allowing for the uprating of state pension, among them Jamaica.
	The United Kingdom has not entered into a social security convention with Trinidad and Tobago. Since 1981, it has been the policy of successive Governments not to seek to enter into new reciprocal agreements with other countries covering social security benefits.